Sonic Riders
| director = Phil Lord Christopher Miller | producer = Roman Coppola Phil Lord Christopher Miller Lauren Shuler Donner Zack Snyder Rob Minkoff | artist = Hideaki Moriya | writer = Story: Phil Lord Christopher Miller Joss Whedon Gary Trousdale Screenplay: Joss Whedon Roger Allers | series = Sonic the Hedgehog | composer = Graeme Revell | platforms = PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Microsoft Windows | released = PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox Microsoft Windows | genre = Racing | modes = Single-player, multiplayer }} is a 2006 racing video game for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in which the player controls characters from the ''Sonic the Hedgehog series on hoverboards. In the game's 16 tracks, the player competes against characters—either controlled by computers or other players—in story and battle modes. It was developed by Sonic Team, Radical Entertainment, Beenox and Vicarious Visions, with production assistance by Now Production and published by Sega and Vivendi Universal Games, and released in February 2006 in Japan and North America. It was released in Europe the following month and for Windows at the end of the year. A Game Boy Advance version, developed by Backbone Entertainment, was cancelled. The game was produced in commemoration of the Sonic series' 15th anniversary and was the first Sonic racing game since the 1997 Traveller's Tales game Sonic R. Sonic Team wanted to make their own game that was superior to any previous Sonic racing game. It was designed to appeal to fans of Sonic and extreme sports video games; the development team did not take inspiration from any prior games. Sonic Riders was also the last Sonic title produced with the involvement of Yuji Naka, who left Sega shortly after its release. Gameplay Sonic Riders is based around characters racing each other using devices known as "Extreme Gear", anti-gravity-equipped vehicles consisting of hover boards, hover skates, and hover bikes. Players compete to finish three laps around a racetrack before their opponents and complete the race in first place. Each race features up to eight characters competing. A key component of gameplay is the air tank, displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Air serves as the fuel for Extreme Gear, and is depleted gradually as the race goes on. Characters can also perform a Boost, which will give them a sudden burst of speed at the cost of a significant amount of air. If a player boosts into an opponent, their character will attack and stun the opponent for a brief period. Air is also more quickly spent using techniques like cornering, which allows the player to round sharp turns with ease, and building tension before a jump, which involves using the air to propel the player higher off of ramps. If a player runs out of air, their character will start running on foot; this prevents them from boosting, attacking, cornering easily or using charged jumps. Players can refill their air by performing tricks when jumping off ramps or off opponents' slipstream, with higher-rated tricks sequences restoring more air. Players can also collect rings scattered across the track; collecting a certain number of rings will cause their character to level up for the remainder of the race, increasing the strength of their attacks and extending their maximum air capacity. Sonic Riders features sixteen playable characters, including guest characters from Nights into Dreams, Space Channel 5, and Super Monkey Ball. Each individual character has different statistics, altering their performance slightly in races, though some characters are restricted from using certain types of Extreme Gear. Characters are divided into one of three classes, each with different abilities: Speed, Power, and Fly. Speed characters can grind on rails, which grants increased speed and air. Power characters can break certain objects, giving the player a boost and additional air. Fly characters can fly through rings, boosting the player further into the course. Each race track features multiple shortcuts that can only be accessed by characters of a specific class. Players can spend the rings they acquire at the in-game shop to purchase new Extreme Gear, each of which possesses unique statistics and properties. The game includes eight unique areas, each with two track variants, for a total of sixteen tracks. Nine tracks are unlocked through progression in the game's story mode, while two must be unlocked by winning Gold in both the World Grand Prix tournaments, in which players race through five consecutive tracks and attempt to get the highest overall score. The game's Story Mode is divided into two campaigns, whose events intersect with one another: The "Heroes" story, focusing on Sonic Sr, Tails, and Knuckles along with Terra, Aqua, Ignitus the Flame Guardian, Cynder and Sparx the Dragonfly; and the "Babylon" story, focusing on the Babylon Rogues, consisting of new characters Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross. In each campaign, players take part in consecutive races with predetermined characters, and must take first place in each race to continue the story. Completing the Heroes campaign unlocks the Babylon campaign, which includes an epilogue in which the two stories converge. Up to four players can also compete in the game's single race and battle modes. Plot Jet (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), observing the key to Babylon Garden (a cube), is alerted by Storm (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) to a visitor: Doctor Eggman (voiced by Christopher Walken). Eggman knows that Jet has the key and tells him that he needs the Chaos Emeralds to make Babylon Garden rise. The Rouges steal an Emerald, but are chased by Team Sonic, Terra (voiced by Josh Duhamel), Aqua (voiced by Kari Wahlgren), Ignitus (voiced by Ron Perlman), Sparx (voiced by Adam Wylie) and Cynder (voiced by Julie Ann Taylor), whom were also aiming to retrieve the Emerald. Knuckles punches Storm off his board, allowing Sonic Sr to take it and chase Jet with Ignitus, Terra and Aqua, but Jet escapes. The next day, Team Sonic sees Eggman on a digital billboard advertising the World Grand Prix. When they realize that the Rogues are participating, Team Sonic, Ignitus, Terra and Aqua enters as well. Team Sonic win the first race, but prior to the second race, Wave (voiced by Brittany Snow) plants a bomb on Sonic Sr (voiced by Troy Baker)'s board. In the final race, Wave sets off the bomb but Cynder stops her from doing so, allowing Jet to defeat Sonic Sr but Ignitus stops him from winning and interrupts the Grand Prix which causes the Jet to be a cheater. Ignitus takes the Chaos Emeralds away from Jet before he gives to Sonic Sr which forces Jet to use their power, Jet makes Babylon Garden appear, wanting to go there after Storm infiltrated Eggman's factory and learned of a legendary treasure made by the Babylonians. Eggman steals the cube and enters the garden, with Amy (voiced by Laura Bailey) grabbing onto Eggman's ship at the last minute. Determined to avenge his loss in which Ignitus stops Jet for cheating, Sonic Sr heads to Babylon Garden as well after Tails (voiced by Stephanie Sheh) gives him a new board. Jet, wanting to defeat Eggman first, challenges Sonic Sr to a rematch. Although Sonic Sr wins, both teams find Eggman, who is holding Amy hostage. Combining their powers, Jet and Sonic Sr manage to retrieve the cube while Terra, Aqua, Cynder and Ignitus saves Amy just in time. After Sonic Sr gives Jet the cube and Team Babylon leaves, Amy gets mad at Sonic Sr and chases him with her hammer until Ignitus stops her and told to apologize Sonic Sr for their wrongdoing. Jet uses the cube to open a secret door, leading the Rouges to a strange room. When Team Sonic along with Ignitus, Sparx and Cynder hears a loud growling, they follow, finding the Rogues and the Babylon Guardian (voiced by Laurence Fishburne), a giant tasked with protecting the treasure. After defeating the Guardian, a chest appears, and Sonic Sr and Jet open it, revealing a carpet. Eggman, following them, forces Sonic Sr and Jet to give him the treasure in, but they refused. After Terra and Aqua stopped Eggman from stealing the treasure, he was later arrested by the U.S. Military (with the call of the U.S. President) for crimes against humanity thus cancelling the World Grand Prix. The carpet is actually an EX Gear, and can fly when used with the cube, being named "Magic Carpet". Team Sonic and the Babylon Rogues along with Terra, Aqua, Ignitus, Sparx and Cynder then depart and go their own ways, but Jet promises to race Sonic Sr again one day. Development s gameplay style.|width=30em|quoted=1}}Sonic Riders was developed by Sonic Team, Radical Entertainment, Beenox, Vicarious Visions and Now Production for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows, and Xbox in commemoration of the Sonic series' 15th anniversary. The game was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and produced by Roman Coppola, Lord, Miller, Lauren Shuler Donner, Zack Snyder and Rob Minkoff. Series co-creator Yuji Naka served as executive producer along with Francis Ford Coppola, Simon Kinberg, Deborah Snyder, Richard Donner, Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis. Sonic Riders was the last Sonic game that Naka was involved with; he resigned to form his own company, Prope, shortly after its release to focus on original games. Yuda said Naka provided input at the beginning of development and additional advice as the game progressed. The game features animated cutscenes by Production I.G and runs at 60 frames per second. The game was the series' first racing game since Travellers' Tales developed Sonic R in 1997. According to Yuda, in the years after Sonic R s release, Sonic Team received many requests from fans for another Sonic racer. Though he played and enjoyed Sonic R, Yuda believed Sonic Team, "who knows Sonic best", should make another game that was superior to any previous Sonic racing game. Yuda also did not want to make a conventional racing game, instead desiring a dynamic, unique style of gameplay that would allow the player to perform tricks. Being able to do this in a car was illogical; Sonic Team noted that surfing and snowboarding were more flexible. As the concept had a heavy emphasis on air, hoverboards were chosen since they could work in any environment and still be fun to use. Sonic Riders was primarily designed to appeal to fans of Sonic and extreme sports games, while the multiplayer modes were included for casual gamers. Yuda has said Sonic Team did not take any influences from prior Sonic games, reasoning they wanted to create a truly new experience that was unlike anything else from other Sonic games. The characters were chosen based on how relevant to the game's story they would be. The game's antagonists, the Babylon Rogues, were created because Sonic Team wanted to include "Air Pirates" as Sonic's rivals. Yuda considered them best-suited for Sonic series racing games, and noted Sonic ''characters are usually designed with one specific storyline in mind. Levels were designed to be "crazy" but still feature classic ''Sonic elements. The score was composed by Graeme Revell and orchestrated and conducted by Tim Simonec with the additional conductor Bruce Babcock. Two vocal themes were written for the game by Revell, Carole Bayer Sager and Will Jennings and performed by Josh Groban, "Sonic Speed Riders" (co-written by Walter Afanasieff and co-performed by Christina Aguilera) and "Catch Me If You Can" (co-written by Will Smith and Elliot Kennedy and co-performed by Jesse McCartney and Smith).Sonic Riders Original Soundtrack "Speedbeats Grand Prix" interior booklet. Yuda said Revell's music was written to be "fast paced and give you that heart pounding feeling you should have during a high-speed race". A soundtrack album, Sonic Riders Original Soundtrack "Speedbeats Grand Prix", was released in March 2006. Sonic Riders was announced in the September 2005 issue of Famitsu, before being showcased at the Tokyo Game Show later that month. The console versions were released in North America on February 21, 2006, Japan on February 23, 2006, Europe on March 17, 2006, and Australia on March 23, 2006. The Windows version was released in late 2006. A Game Boy Advance (GBA) version was developed by Backbone Entertainment but never released. According to artist Keith Erickson, it used an Out Run-style game engine and was supposed to launch at the same time as the other versions. Sega of Japan learned of this version and requested that Backbone add more 3D elements but keep it on the same production schedule. This would have required the engine to be completely rewritten, something Backbone considered impossible, so Sega canceled it. Reception |IGN = 6.2/10 |NWR = 6/10 }} According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Sonic Riders received "mixed or average" reviews. Throughout 2006, the game sold 930,000 copies. The GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions were later branded as part of the Player's Choice and Greatest Hits budget lines, indicating strong sales. The game's presentation received mixed reactions from reviewers. GameSpot thought the visuals were well-produced and praised the brightly colored levels and character models, but noted frame rate drops and thought the environments looked "kind of drab and muddy" when the gameplay slowed down. GameSpy agreed and cited the graphics as one of the best parts of the game. IGN was more conflicted: they praised the graphical effects and backgrounds, but were critical of the blocky geometry and blurry textures and thought it was not as pretty as competing games. Nintendo World Report (NWR) also called the graphics inconsistent. Of the game's music, IGN and GameSpot agreed it was just generic Sonic melodies, but IGN wrote the game had "a few surprisingly ambient and worldly tracks that ... better fit with the themes of the different locales." NWR called the soundtrack fitting. Reviewers criticized or had little praise for the core gameplay and controls. GamesRadar+ derided the loose, floaty physics engine, writing it caused cheap deaths. Eurogamer thought the premise showed promise and worked well as races started, but found it ultimately became messy, complicated, and convoluted. IGN lamented that the game was "neither a full-fledged racer or an engaging snowboarder, but a shallow compromise of both." They also found the hoverboards were technically pointless when considering that Sonic is fast on his own. GameSpy described the gameplay design of racing, attacking opponents, and performing tricks as inconsistent: "Most games quickly prioritize these actions for you based on results," they wrote, "but Sonic Riders seems to yield similar results no matter what". Still, the game's sense of speed was generally praised. IGN wrote "Sonic Team has done a solid job of delivering on speed and anarchy" and cited the pace as making races unpredictable and fun. GameSpot agreed and described the turbulence-riding as inventive. Eurogamer thought the speed was exciting and wrote it reminded them of the original Sega Genesis Sonic games. GamePro was more critical, agreeing with Eurogamer the speed was exciting but feeling that it made the game feel "more like a surreal rollercoaster ride than a game". Difficulty maintaining speed was noted by many reviewers. GamesRadar+ called it "almost impossible... Clipping a corner or bumping into a wall can bring your 200mph screamfest to a complete halt", and Eurogamer wrote it was the game's biggest flaw. The pitstop system was especially criticized; GameSpy wrote it made no sense for a Sonic game, and GameSpot said it sucked the fun out of Sonic Riders. Overall, reviewers deemed Sonic Riders an average entry in the Sonic franchise. IGN believed it was an improvement from the series' previous game Shadow the Hedgehog and would be fun for Sonic fans, but was nonetheless found its design choices questionable and felt it simply existed to cash in on the popularity of snowboarding game franchises like SSX. GameSpot said the game was occasionally entertaining but suffered from lackluster gameplay, and GamesRadar+ thought it proved that the once iconic Sonic franchise "has now become a dumping ground for half-baked games." Sequels A sequel to Sonic Riders, titled Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, was released in 2008 for the Wii and PlayStation 2. A third title, Sonic Free Riders, developed by O-Two, was released as a launch title for the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral on November 4, 2010. Archie comics adaptation The Archie Sonic Comic issues #163 and #164 include a loose adaptation of Sonic Riders, even using the same art style used in the game's title sequence. Two characters are also seen riding Extreme Gear in issue #173. Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite also use Extreme Gear in the Archie Comics. The Babylon Rogues make appearances with their Extreme Gear and Airship in Sonic Universe issues 23 and 24. They also have an arc in Sonic Universe issues 33–36. Notes References External links * Category:Futuristic racing games Category:2006 video games Category:Now Production games Category:PlayStation 2 games Category:GameCube games Category:Production I.G Category:Racing video games Category:Sonic the Hedgehog video games Category:Crossover video games Category:Sonic Team games Category:Windows games Category:Xbox games Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games Category:Radical Entertainment games Category:Vicarious Visions games Category:Beenox games Category:Sierra Entertainment games Category:Universal Interactive games Category:Vivendi Games video games Category:Films directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Category:Films produced by Zack Snyder Category:Films produced by Lauren Shuler Donner Category:Films produced by Rob Minkoff Category:Films produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Category:Films produced by Deborah Snyder Category:Films produced by Richard Donner Category:Films produced by Francis Ford Coppola Category:Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Category:Films produced by Martha De Laurentiis Category:Video games with screenplays by Joss Whedon Category:Video games with screenplays by Roger Allers Category:Video games scored by Graeme Revell Category:Video games set in Egypt Category:Video games set in New York City Category:Video games set in Brazil Category:Video games set in the United States Category:Video games set in South America Category:Video games set in Antarctica Category:Video games set in the 21st century Category:Video games set in the 20th century Category:Video games set in the future